Huang Yi knew the location of the Seleng tribe's winter camp, and now he also knew that he led the main force to attack the Hedanbaat'er tribe.
There may be less than five or six hundred young and middle-aged knights left behind in the tribe. How long will it take if we don't go to Se Leng's lair now?
The tribe was wiped out, severe winter was approaching, and they lost their cattle, sheep, and food. If the soldiers and horses did not surrender and fled far away to join other tribes, they might freeze to death or starve to death.
There were already a lot of horses in the base area, so Liting raided the caves of more than a dozen Mongolian tribes and seized several thousand more.
Among the newly accepted refugees, more than half of the young adults basically cannot ride a horse. The rest of the young adults can ride long distances, and all the auxiliary soldiers and militia can ride horses.
A big war was about to happen, and the auxiliary and militia chiefs Zhao Yong, Li Wanquan, Chang Yongliang, Kang Jing, etc. all took the initiative to ask for war.
Considering that he had to have troops to guard the capture and capture, Huang Yi decided to bring five hundred auxiliary musketeers and spearmen who, although they could not fight on horseback, could gallop on horseback.
There is no need to worry about the defense of the base area. The four walls have been surrounded and the Tatar cavalry raid will not be effective.
Food has been put into storage, frost is coming, and there has been a light snowfall. Most people will spend the winter in the city. Outside the city, there are only mining areas, and people are left in the lime kilns, brick kilns, and cement factories in the suburbs for production.
In addition to those sent by Geng Zhanghua and those just rescued by Huang Yi, there are already over 30,000 Han people under Huang Yi's command, excluding the Mongolian population.
If the base city is attacked by someone, the auxiliary soldiers, militia, craftsmen, and miners alone can organize five to six thousand young and middle-aged men. Adding the healthy women and teenagers, the number of people who can participate in the defense of the city will definitely exceed 15,000.
The collectivist thinking of the people in the base area has been formed, and they can definitely unite in the face of foreign enemies. The 10,000 or 20,000 troops from the Tatars and Jiannu slaves have to look at the city and sigh.
This is not blind confidence!
The knowledge of defending the city is great!
Last winter and this spring, the Hou Jin army plundered the capital and broke through dozens of cities and fortresses. Major cities such as Zunhua, Yongping, and Luanzhou were not defended for a day.
However, the small town of Changli, under the command of the county magistrate Zuo Yingxuan, withstood the fierce attack of the Hou Jin army, and that was under the circumstances of Huang Taiji personally supervising the battle.
The city suffered heavy casualties during the siege. Huang Taiji, who had no choice but to give up the attack on the small town of Changli, also issued an order that the Jin army should not attack a city with fierce resistance.
This shows that the city can better defend against the Jiannu and Tatars who mainly use cold weapons.
But no matter how strong a city is, it is in vain if it is not guarded by people with firm hearts.
No matter how talented the county magistrates of the Ming Dynasty were, they could not have the organizational structure established by Huang Yi. Every resident and farmer had an organization and a responsible person.
Part of the people in the base area were Han slaves rescued from the Tatars, and part of them were Han people who had been plundered from the slaves.
More often than not, the Jin army burned, killed, and looted Liao people and war refugees whose homes had been destroyed...
After arriving in the base area, these people were not discriminated against, got jobs, had enough food and clothing, and lived with dignity.
In addition, Huang Yi personally educated and guided everyone not to accept their fate, dare to revolution, and unite to resolutely resist oppression.
Therefore, Huang Yi firmly believed that even if only the militia were left to patrol and garrison the Fenghuo Pier, the base city would still be impregnable.
At noon the next day, Huang Yi set out. Together with Geng Zhanghua's 400 cavalry, a total of 2,700 cavalry were dispatched, all carrying spare horses carrying armor and seven days' share of food and grass.
Not having to worry about horses is one of the benefits of being based on the prairie. Being accustomed to horse plowing, it is equivalent to the average young and middle-aged man in a base area being able to handle two large animals, and cultivating fields will get twice the result with half the effort.
Of course, when winter comes, the work of reclaiming wasteland has stopped long ago. The main work now is to dig irrigation wells in fields far away from the river.
To ensure that a single irrigation well meets the needs of 20 acres of farmland and ensures a harvest despite droughts and floods, 6,000 men and women will need to work for 100 days from this winter to next spring.
It is planned to dig 12,000 irrigation wells to ensure that all acres reclaimed in the base area are irrigated.
Last winter, hundreds of people were organized to dig irrigation wells. This year, they have experienced the benefits of irrigating the fields. The wheat yield per mu can reach one stone and two buckets.
We have accepted a lot of refugees, refugees, and Liao residents this year. In the middle of winter, how can there be too many jobs?
Therefore, more than 3,000 laborers can be organized to transport materials, and 6,000 men and women can be arranged to dig wells in several basins. This is still the model of indoor work in building yurts.
Each well-drilling team carries briquette stoves unique to the base area, and there are women doing laundry and cooking.
Even though it was a field operation, you could eat hot batter, millet porridge, and sleep in a warm yurt, which made the hardship much less stressful.
Huang Yi mobilized five to six thousand war horses and pack horses to go on the expedition, which did not affect the production and transportation in the base area at all, and also saved a lot of stored hay and feed.
The plan was to march slowly at a speed of fifty miles a day, waiting for the cavalry from the outer tribes to come to join them, and also to wait for Geng Qi who was eager to join the battle.
It is important to support war with war. Huang Yi believes that seven days of consumption is enough.
Because all Mongolian tribes must store enough food for most of the year before winter begins.
As long as a small tribe is wiped out, the cattle, sheep and grain seized will be enough to feed and drink four to five thousand people and horses for a month. Why bother to add too much supplies?
The wind blows snow on the prairie, because the first snowfall was not heavy. Only in the leeward places can there be snow piled up by the wind, and withered and yellow pastures can still be seen in the open areas.
The herdsmen are still seizing the last moment to let the cattle and sheep eat more forage, and the whole family starts to harvest the forage reserves.
Huang Dayong, Huang Dazhi, Zhang Dong, etc. are the best at shielding the battlefield. Huang Yi has long no longer needed to hold the telescope in person to arrange it. They cooperate tacitly.
No herdsmen were found on the marching route, and tribes with more than fifty yurts were temporarily let go and detoured.
Realizing that Huang Yi was not marching in the direction of Hedanbaat'er's tribe with his troops, Karitu was very anxious. Unfortunately, his Chinese language skills were too poor to communicate with Huang Yi in detail.
Huang Yi simply asked Karitu to take his seven subordinates to follow Zhang Dong to kill sentinels, explorers, and rangers.
Zhang Dong has the strongest language talent and is eloquent. He will explain to Ka Le Tu how to surround Wei and save Zhao, avoid the truth and turn to the weak. I believe Ka Le Tu will understand it soon.
Huang Yi's men and horses were increasing every day. On the fourth day, Geng Qi arrived with a hundred cavalry. Not counting the herdsmen families who were holding him hostage, the total force was as high as more than 4,500.
The location is less than 200 miles away from Selengbu.
There are seven small and medium-sized Karaqin tribes within these two hundred miles. If we still adopt the method of shielding the battlefield and bypassing the camps of small and medium-sized tribes, the marching speed will be too slow.
Huang Yi decided not to hide and sneak away, but to take a straight line and kill all the small and medium-sized tribes on the marching route.
There is no need to formulate tactics. Launching a surprise attack is the best tactic, and speed is the best method.
